250 word second draft

It was an average routine morning. I woke up at 6:00 o’clock on the dot by my father. Then, as always I drag my self out of bed and walk straight to the shower. Once I have taken a shower I am completely woken up almost like drinking a cup of coffee. Then I go back down stairs to pack my things for school then wait on the couch until 6:40 when my mother comes to tell me we are going. I get into the car and can already feel an angry vibe coming from my mom, but I just ignore it. She rudely demands I put my seat belt on. I try to avoid conflict so I do it right away and try thinking of any other possible things she could yell at me for so I can correct it before she notices, but there is nothing. She hears the click of the belt and we are off. I daze off for quite some time all the way till we get to the roadery in JP right after the Franklin Park Golf cores. We are about to go around the roadery and a person in a black SUV decides to cut off my mom; bad move. My mom slams the brakes on and beeps at the person for several seconds then she speeds up and takes him on, and cuts him off, and gives him the death stair as I call it when we go by. But this person is even more stubborn than my mom. He cuts us off again. I tell my mom “calm down” but she wont listen, she yells at me, “you always take any ones side but your mothers, tell him to calm down.” I should have seen that coming its her favorite line, and how could I even tell him to calm down I am not in the car with him. She tries cutting him off again and he slams into us. I am thrown from the car and instantly knocked out. Next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital 24 hours later. My parent were standing over me. And all I say is, “I told you to calm down.”     

250 word story

            It was an average routine morning. I woke up at 6:00 o’clock on the dot by my father. Then, as always I drag my self out of bed and walk straight to the shower. Once I have taken a shower I am completely woken up almost like drinking a cup of coffee. Then I go back down stairs to pack my things for school then wait on the couch until 6:40 when my mother comes to tell me we are going. I get into the car and can already feel an angry vibe coming from my mom, but I just ignore it. When ever my mom gets angry she always bosses me around so she rudely demands I put my seat belt on. She hears the click and we are off. I daze off for quite some time all the way till we get to the roadery in JP right after the Franklin Park Golf cores. We are about to go around the roadery and a person in a black SUV designed to cut off my mom; bad move. My mom slams the brakes on and beeps at the person for several seconds then she speeds up and takes him on cuts him off, and gives him the death stair as I call it when we go by. But this person is even more stubborn than my mom. He cuts us off again. I tell my mom to calm down but she wont listen she tries cutting him off again and he slams into us. I am thrown from the car instantly knocked out. Next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital with my parent standing over me. And all I say is, “I told you to calm down.”      

I search 8th blog

The history of German soccer is one of the longest around, but had one of the hardest times getting it the way it is now. German soccer was shook up by political factors surrounding the country, but still it emerged as one of the greatest in Europe. Before an official national team being formed, Germany had several amateur and semi-professional clubs playing in regional championships. Some selections from these teams were made at the beginning of the 20th century. The Germans weren’t to good in their early stages of playing soccer. They mostly played the English and almost every game was a complete lose. A national team was formed in 1908, but it was still lacking coordination and professionalism compared to the English side and the most conclusive example was the match between the two countries in 1909, which ended with a 9-0 victory that is still marked as the most severe one in the history of German soccer. With the two World Wars centering on the country, German soccer history has a large gap as most sportive activities were suspended. Between the wars, Germany managed to get together a good team for the 1934 World Cup. After things settled down a bit, the history of German soccer came back on its tracks and Germany started becoming a power in the game, especially through its national team. After that soccer only got better in germany as it became more organized and less interrupted by politics and war. 

I search seventh blog

Spain is one of the top soccer playing countries in the world and also one the 2010 fifa world cup, but lets take a closer look at the history of the sport in this country. Following the example of the English, who formed their soccer organization in 1863, Spain set foot to creating one of their own, which was named the Royal Spanish Football Federation in 1909. In 1927, as soccer started growing on the international level, with the newly formed FIFA planning the first World Cup, Jose Maria Acha came up with the idea to create a national league in Spain, with all the top teams of the local championships. It took almost 1 year to settle all the details of this national league, but in 1928 the first La Liga tournament was finally played. 10 teams were picked to star in this league. Most of them were previous winners of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Cup. These clubs that went on to write the history of Spanish soccer were FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arenas Club de Getxo, Real Union, Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, Atletico Aviacion (Atletico Madrid), RCD Espanyol, CE Europa and Racing Santander. These are the most famous Spanish soccer teams, and they all contributed to make soccer the thriving sport it is in spain.

I search sixth blog

The passion for soccer in Mexico started to bloom a few years prior to the first World Cup in 1930, with a professional championship being formed and the first national selection in the history of Mexican soccer history occurring in 1927. Most people know Mexican soccer as just the fast pace always excited and talking announcers that say gooooooooooooaaaaaaaalllll! When ever a team scores. The first ever international match in Mexico was played against Guatemala on their home ground and won 3 to 2 and it looked like they would have a bright start. But they had no foundation, as Mexico had one of the poorest World Cups in the entire Mexican soccer history in 1930, finishing last in the group stage, with nothing but losses. After that world cup a very poor period emerged in the history of Mexican soccer, on both local and international levels. Participating in 5 World Cups before 1970, Mexican soccer history recorded a single win in these tournaments, with the Central American team beating Czechoslovakia 3-1 in 1962. Mexican soccer witnessed a slow ascendance, with better conditions for kids and professional soccer players, and with a great passion for the game. With that the Mexican soccer league got much better with children growing up playing more organized soccer and they are now a great soccer playing country.   

I search fifth blog

Most people know that England’s people love soccer but they look past the fact that it is more than love. Although the English only have one world title to their name soccer is still very near to all their hearts and has played a big part in every ones life. English Premier League Soccer is one of the most watched Leagues of soccer if not the most in the world. Every weak the stadiums of England are filled with thousands of fans and millions more sitting in their homes watching everywhere in the world in cluding my self. Soccer has been in England since 1863 it's a part of their history; they are born into watching soccer and playing it. They don't have many sports in England (about 5 popular and widely played sports including soccer) making another reason to watch or play the sport. There are 20 teams in the English league giving people a lot of teams to choose from to root for. There is nothing soccer doesn't have going for it in this country that is why it is so popular. Also there are always tournaments going on all over the world and England is in almost every one of them and who doesn’t want to see their country play another.   

I search fourth blog

Italy as every one knows has a great soccer program and soccer is very popular in their country. They have won 4 world cups only one win behind the leading team Brazil. Now why is soccer so popular there? Writer Jacob Campeau said, “Soccer in Italy is more than just a sport. It is religion. Soccer is just as much as Italian as pasta, wine, or vespas. It is interwoven into national history and is one of the few things that all Italians can agree on.” I couldn’t have said it any better my self, not many countries in the world have there defining moments and what everybody sees them as in sports. It may not seam that big to you, but it is, soccer in Italy is nothing short of a religion or way of life. “Every Italian could tell you a story about their youth, and most likely it would involve soccer. Fond child hood memories revisited might evoke images of school kids congregating on the local soccer pitch, where they would play for hours until the sun went down, and often into the darkness of night, as they searched for that elusive final goal.” Soccer has played apart in every person life in some way in Italy, you couldn't say that about any sport in the U.S.     

I search third Blog

Brazil, when you think of Brazil the thought of soccer fallows close behind considering how popular it is there and how good they are at it. This country has won five   world cups they have the most titles in the world. Brazil has been playing soccer for about 110 years about the same as Argentina, why is it so popular there. In Brazil Soccer is not just a sport; it’s a way of life, a passion that unites the whole country. When the national soccer team is playing, it does not matter if you’re poor or rich, live in the city or in the country, everyone stops to cheer their national soccer team. It helps unite their country and the people in it and it helps to have a team worth cheering for. Soccer in Brazil does all the same key things for the country as it does for Argentina, I wonder if this is a trend threw out South America. I will have to research more South American countries and find out. Soccer is a very helpful countries and I hope to find more articles about how soccer has helped other countries as well.          

I search second blog

            One Country where soccer is not just apart of some people’s lives but is apart of every ones life, and a huge part of their culture is Argentina. This sport has been played in Argentina about 120 years, Fútbol Argentino is the Argentinian FA, and they were founded in 1893. The sport has been around in this country for a long time but why is it so popular there? People say that it’s the only integrating space in Argentina, and it vigorously drives the patriotic and aids in the creation of the concept of the Patria. Head professor of the course "Popular and Massive Culture" at the University of Buenos Aires, Pablo Alabarces says, “ soccer for Argentina has many circumstances in its favor: it is easy, inviting, universal, completely inclusive and democratic because it doesn’t ask anyone where they came from." In my research I also found that many articles said the soccer is not just popular in Argentina because it's a fun game but it is important for argentines culture, it brings them together you could even say the sport unifies them. As the quote I found from Pablo Alabarces say’s the sport does not ask any one where they came from, it seams the soccer helps put a stop and dampens racial problems in Argentina. This show that soccer really can do amazing things and can even change an entire counties culture for the better.   

I Search first blog

For my I search Project I am going to be researching and bogging about why Soccer is so popular in other countries. Each of my bloggs will be about the specifics of how important soccer is to a certain countries and why they like it so much. Each blog will be about a different country in the world. I am going to talk about the countries where the sport is most popular such as England, Brazil, Argentina, Italia and more. I hope I can find a lot of information for each country to share with you and so that I can learn more about them. I will also talk about the history of soccer in there county and how long soccer has been a part of their culture and how it has effected there country. I hope this will be an interesting topic to learn about and research and I hope to find a lot of interesting new facts and things. 

Match day 4, Valencia and Rangers

Valencia has dismissed the Rangers of Scotland on match day 4 and they truly needed to. The Rangers were the visiting team and they were beaten 3-0. Even though this is a pretty substantial amount of goals for a team to score the goalie of Scotland, Allen McGregor, played very well. He saved shots from Juan Mata, Aritz Aduriz and also Soldado. Also Steven Naismith's two fine efforts, and Mestalla’s which might easily have seen seven or eight goals. Leading Goal scorer Soldado of Valencia said, "This wasn't just a good game for me, the whole team performed really well. A victory like this has been coming for some time because for a couple of weeks we have put in good performances which have not had the goals they merited. “We really went for it from the opening minute and things came off for us because of our attitude and our hunger.” Soldado met a bad corner kick with a left foot strike to make it 1-0. He also had their second goal of the game to make it 2-0. The goal keeper of Scotland said "I am not the kind of player who can have a good game but lose and still be happy. I would rather have the worst game of my life and the team win. The first goal was a letdown because it took an unfortunate bounce off Madjid Bougherra's back and when I got a touch to Soldado's shot all I managed to do was push it past our defender on the line." As you can see this isn’t a man who likes to lose. This quote also shows how unexpected soccer can be, one bad bounce could lead to a goal scoring opportunity, even the worst pass could turn into a great play and goal scoring opportunity.    

Bursaspor

            Well say bye bye to Bursaspor, because they were eliminated from the Champions League. Manchester United is the team that set them on their way as they beat Bursaspor 3-0 in their last game. "We played possession football, kept our cool and that is how we pulled it off," said Evra of England. "“This is our fifth consecutive win and we have every reason to feel confident about the games ahead.” The key man in this match for England was Alex Ferguson with all three of England’s goals in the game (a hat trick). The Goalkeeper of Manchester United said "It's always hectic here in Turkey, but most of the time we were in control," the 40-year-old said. "I remember Bursaspor coming close a couple of times in the first half, but luckily for us the goals came quite easy for us in the second half. I knew they hadn't scored in this year's competition and I can imagine they were looking for a goal against us, but we did our job." There wasn't a person on turkey that could dine that England was the better team. The Turkish team was eliminated with no point to their name. And England moved on with grand total of 10 points and the most total points of their group. Manchester did score a lot but one team was not far behind them, this team was the Rangers of Scotland with 7 points.       

Rangers and Valencia

I have been waiting for this match up for a long time; these are two of my favorite teams. That's why it disappoints me to say this game ended at a tie 1-1. I was really hoping we would get a winner out of this one but neither team really stepped up and played there best. For this game I was really rooting for the rangers of Scotland to win. I have always liked this team because they are all very fast players and I enjoy watching how they use their speed to their advantage in every aspect of the game. This team also has one of my favorite strikers, Kenny Miller. Ok onto the game. The first 15 minutes the Rangers were playing vary defensive. Valencia was on the ball about 90% of this time. What would happen is Valencia would keep the ball for a while trying to create a scoring opportunity but the Rangers would always get the ball back before they could score. Although they would get the ball back they would give it away again and then Valencia would keep it for a while to try and create a scoring chance but no good chances were being made, and it repeated this for the first 15 minutes. After this there was a dramatic change in the way Scotland was playing, all of the sudden they were attacking like crazy. They went from no shots taken in 15 minutes to 5 very close shots taken in only 4 minutes and now they were on the ball for most of the time in the next ten minutes. Out of these 5 shots there were 2 outrageously close ones. One of them was when one of the players on Scotland chipped the ball over the head of a Spanish player to one of his team mates then it was a one on one with the goalie and the striker and the striker dove forward with his legs to shot the ball as the goalie was running towards the ball and he kicked the ball right into the goalie’s chest. Next was almost the same situation one of the players on Scotland crossed the ball to his team mate in the goalie box and he tried heading it in but the ball hit the post and the goalie was there to clear the ball. After a few more chances in the 33rd-minute of the game the rangers were lining up for a corner. The player on Scotland kicked the ball with perfect accuracy and power into the middle of the goalie box and the goalie of Valencia jumped to grab it and a player of Scotland went to head for the goal and the player of Scotland met the ball with his head and launched it into the back of the net making it 1-0 Scotland. The rest of the half was scoreless thus going into half time 1-0 Rangers. At half time the total shots from the Rangers were 10 and shots from Valencia was 12. There was only one yellow card that was awarded to a player on Scotland and there were 0 red cards. In the next half within the first 40 seconds of the half there was a goal for Valencia making the game tied. There was a free kick for Valencia and the player kicked the ball into the box to his teammate who headed the ball in right passed the goalie. In the rest of the game no really good opportunities were created it was more just defensive and the score remained 1-1.                

Spain at Scotland

There are two games that are going to be played tomorrow in-group C (the group I have been fallowing) of the Champions League. It is going to be the Rangers of Scotland against Valencia of Spain and also Manchester United of England against Bursaspor of Turkey whom I have already talked about. In this post I will talk about the Rangers and Valencia. The game will take place in Glasgow in Scotland; this place actually has a history with one of the players on Valencia. The players name is Cesar Sanchez and he is the Goalkeeper for Spain. Last time he was in Scotland 8 years ago, though it wasn't against the rangers, he played fantastic and also received a Champions league Winners metal. So you can see why he would have fond memories of this place and now tomorrow he is hoping for another successful outcome during this trip. Cesar Sanchez even said him self, “I have good memories of this place.” In this group Valencia still lies only a point behind their opponents for tomorrow. The Rangers have 4 points so far in this Champions League and Valencia only has three. On another note Manchester United of England has 4 points so far as well and Bursaspor remains scoreless, so England and Scotland are tied for first, Spain is in second, and Turkey is in last for there group. Goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez says that tomorrow him and his teammates have to embrace the game rather than allowing it to diminish there powers. He said that, “the atmosphere of this place is incredible and it's a special place to play in.” He also added, "We have come here to get a good result and make life as easy as possible. It's another big game for us and we are ready, but we must also be careful. “This competition is like a sprint. If you make a mistake in the group stage, you may not have the chance to put it right”." Well that's all for todays blog post my next post will be about what happens in these to games that are happening tomorrow.         

Bursaspor against Manchester United

Match day 3 is coming soon for Bursaspor of Turkey. They are going to be facing Manchester united of England in England. Last time Ertuğrul Sağlam, the head coach of the Turkish team was in England he faced a Liverpool team his team was beaten. He was on the receiving end of this 8-0 defeat. This heavy loss came in one of the later stages of the 2007 Champions League in stage 6. So far Bursaspor has lost both of their games. One game at home to Valencia of Spain. This game was also a shut out 4-0; they also lost a game to the Rangers of Scotland 1-0. So as you can see this team is off to a very rocky, and frustrating start. Manchester United most recent victory against a Turkish team was in 2004. In this game Wayne Rooney the up and coming star at the time was 18 years old marked his Man. United debut with a stunning hat trick, thus ending a game with the victory 6-2, he scored half their points. The last time Turky won against an English opposition was in 1995, a 4-0 victory. Bursaspor has yet to even score a goal. I will be looking forward to this next game (Bursaspor at Manchester United) it should be a good one because of the history between the 2 countries and how badly Turkey needs this and wants it. I cant wait to watch the out come and I will be sure to fill you in on the details in my next blog.

Champions League Back Round

For those of you who don't really know what the Champions league is or how it works you might want to consider reading this. The teams of the champion’s league are decided by wining your divisions in your country of Europe. For example each or most of the countries in Europe have there own league with different teams in it. The team who wins the champion ship of there countries league goes to the champions league to play against other European countries teams that one in there league. The Champions league is divided into three stages, the qualifying stage, the group stage and the playoffs. The governing body in European football UEFA, has a point scale for the different leagues, the better the teams from a certain country, the more teams from that country get qualified for Champions league and the UEFA cup. Spain, Italy and England all get four spots for the Champions League, position 3 and 4 has to play in the 3rd qualifying stage. Smaller leagues only get one team who enter in the 1st qualifying round. Every league in Europe get at least one team into the tournament, but most teams are knocked out before they get into the main stage the Group/playoffs.

Winning the champions league is a pretty big deal for some countries. For teams in England, Italy and Spain winning the Champions League is just as big as winning their premier league cup. You get more recognition outside your own country for winning it though. In the smaller leagues winning it means more than the premier league cup, but it is very rare that a team from those countries will win. The three teams who have won the title the most are, Real Madrid who have won 9 times, AC Milan who have won 7 times, and Liverpool who have won 5 times. Other teams who often perform well, both recently and historically are Manchester United, Juventus, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich.

Champions league info

As you may know there is a soccer tournament going on know. This tournament is called the champions League cup. Teams from around the world compete in the cup and face other teams from different places. The tournament consists of 7 different groupings (A-H) with 4 teams in each. I will be focusing on group C and following their games. In-group C the 4 teams are as fallows, Manchester United of England, Rangers of Scotland, Valencia of Spain, and Bursaspor of Turkey. These teams sounded like the most interesting to me so that is why I chose them. Also a few of my favorite players play on these teams Wayne Rooney and Fabio of man. United, and Kenny Miller of Scotland. Rooney and Miller are two of the best strikers in the world. Rooney is better then Miller but he is up there as well. I have favored these two outstanding strikers since I first watched them play. Other than that I don't know much about the teams in the group. I am very much looking forward to find out more about Spain because I know they have got some great players over there some of the best in the world. I am also looking forward to seeing this team play because Spain one the world cup and I was very excited about that and it would be great to see them take this cup as well. I don't know much about Turkish soccer but I am very much looking forward to learn more about it and the team and can not wait to share it whom ever may be reading this blog. So that is some things you should know about the cup. I will also be talking about player new (injuries etc.), crazy ref calls, some of my old and new favorite players, players I bealeve have the potential to lead their team to the finals, the rules of the game and cup, standing’s in the cup, great goals and plays and more. That is what I will be talking about in my champions league blog.          

Manchester United against Rangers

            Last Thursday I watched a game that I was very excited about. It was the Rangers of Scotland pined up against Manchester United of England. These are two of my favorite teams that (as I talked about in my last post) have some of my favorite and the best players in the soccer world today. These are two high class teams close to or the best from there country, they range from top of the line strikers to brick house defensemen. Although this game ended up at a draw 0-0 I was on the edge of my seat the whole time it was an absolute thriller defensemen wise and there were also some great strikes but to fallow them up were some heart stopping saves. Although no one was thrown out of the game there were some nasty tackles and plays in general. For example Wayne Rooney one of my favorite players was on the break running toward the goal with only a few defenders in front of him, a great opportunity to put his team in the league after about 70 scoreless minutes. As he was running with the ball he lost a bit of control and the defender seized the opportunity and nicked the ball out from under his feat. Just out of frustration from this happening to him a few other times in the game he grabbes the back of the rangers defensemen’s shirt, and with one swift pull drops him to the ground. I could not believe what I saw, I thought there was going to be a fight but I was wrong Rooney just snuck away with a YELLOW card which was even more surprising to me I was sure he would be getting a red and going off. I am still new to the game so I don't fully understand how every thing works. Another nasty play was a slide tackle from a Scottish player towered an English player named Antonio Valencia one of their best players. He was running down the sideline when a defensemen came in and tackled him and in the process he dislocated and fractured his left ankle. This was one of the must gruesome injuries I have ever witnessed in fact it was to horrific that they weren’t even allowed to show a replay if you missed it. I saw the play I just didn't see the injury but since I have T-vo I of course went back and re-watched it and 100% regret doing so. I felt sick to my stomach seeing this injury. I was shock to see one of his teammates Wayne Rooney standing by him watching them wrap his ankle up and carrying him off. The commentators of the game Mattie Tyler and Andy Gray were saying he must have a strong stomach to be watching this. To me what he did was the right thing though when you are in that much pain it is nice to see a friendly face.  After this injury Valencia will be missing a good portion of the season. Those plays were what I found most interesting and that concludes my blog about the Manchester United/Rangers game of the Champions League last Thursday.